The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
The West Central Heat, behind a 620 all purpose yard attack, defeated Decatur Luthern/Mt. Pulaski 38 to 28 in their first round playoff game last Friday night.
Kaiden Droste #12 accounted for 5 of the Heat's 6 touchdowns and Mason Carnes provided the final touches with a score midway through the final quarter.
Droste amassed 482 all purpose yards aided by two long kickoff returns for scores early in the first quarter.
Before Decatur L/MP could get untracked the Heat had built a 20 to 0 first quarter lead. Decatur LMP was able to push across a score with 26 seconds left in the first half and the Heat took a 20 to 8 lead into the half.
The second half was played pretty even with each team scoring 3 touchdowns. Fortunately, the Heat came out ready to play and had Decatur reeling early on in the contest and that cushion proved to be enough for the win. The West Central Heat had their hands full in the contest as Decatur also had a powerful ground game which came alive in the 2nd half.
The Heat matched Decatur's 2nd half uprising to preserve the 10 point victory.
Defensively the Heat faced one of their toughest opponents of the year. All three of the Decatur backs proved to be a scoring threat. Twenty-nine times during the game Decatur punished the Heat defense with gains of 10 or more yards.
Leading the defense for the Heat was Devin Shaw with 13 solo tackles and 9 assists. Kaiden Droste had 7 solos and 5 assists, Dexter Ricketts 5 and 3, Colton Fletcher 3 and 4, Parker Meldrum 2 and 6, Walker Conchas 2 and 1, Brady McGraw 1 and 3, Matthew Dunn 1 and 1 and Blake Cole 1 assist.
Next opponent for the Heat will be the South Beloit Sobos who were 20 to 8 victors over Flannigan-Woodland. The Sobos are the 12 seed and were hosted by 5th seed Flannigan-Woodland so that will put the Sobos as the home team when they face the Heat. The game will be this Saturday, Nov. 6th at South Beloit at 1:00 p.m.